FIA 'not rushing' to close loophole Red Bull exposed with Perez
Perez endured a nightmare race at Suzuka as he collided with Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and then clumsily clashed with Kevin Magnussen.
The Mexican picked up two separate five-second time penalties and was called in to retire his Red Bull car on Lap 15, shortly after his incident with Magnussen.
However, Perez was bizarrely sent back out into the race 26 laps later so he could serve his second time penalty after it emerged that his punishment could be carried over to the next grand prix, potentially in the form of a grid drop.
After pitting to serve his penalty, Perez was called back into the pits to retire for good on Lap 43.
Sky F1's pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz had reported that the FIA were keen to address the loophole in time for the next race in Qatar.
“He [Perez] was a DNF, then he was not, then he was a DNF again,” Kravitz said on his post-race Notebook on Sky.
“He clashed with Hamilton at the start, had to pit under the Safety Car for a new nose. He served one penalty but not all of them. He overtook under Safety Car and got a five-second penalty, then he hit Magnussen and had another pitstop.
“They stopped him for seven or eight laps then realised that there is a loophole in the rules that means… the rule says: “The stewards may impose a grid penalty at the next race if you don’t serve your five-second penalty for certain infringements.”
“‘May’ doesn’t mean ‘will’.
“Jonathan Wheatley [Red Bull sporting director] and the team were thinking that it’s possible, and maybe likely, that the stewards will impose a grid penalty at the next race if they haven’t served their penalty.
“They saw that loophole. They asked the FIA if they agreed that, if they rejoined the race and served the penalty that it would be cleared up. The FIA said yes, so they did it, and it worked.
“I think Checo was already in his jeans, having an ice cream!
“I can tell you that the FIA, after seeing this loophole, are minded to close it off quite quickly for the next race.
“To say that, for certain infringements if a penalty has not been served, it must be a grid penalty at the next race.
“They won’t let Red Bull get away with gaming the rules. It was clever, don’t get me wrong! Really clever. If I was the team manager I’d say ‘definitely do it!’
“It was great but the FIA, apparently, aren’t too happy about it.”
But the Daily Mirror later reported "that this is untrue and that it won't be rushing to change the rules".
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